House prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua questioned the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s handling of accomplishment reports (ARs) bearing allegedly fictitious names, asking why such records would still be kept in a vault if the identities listed in them were not genuine.
‘If it is merely fictitious, what is the purpose? Why put it in the vault in the first place? The purpose of the law, of the Joint Circular, is to place in the vault the names of legitimate informants, the identities of those who will be recruited as informants,’ Chua said.
He made the remarks during the prosecution panel’s post-trial press conference when he was asked about receipts bearing the names Antonio Pagong, Timon Andrew Pusa, Don Piang, May Pamana, Shane Ngitngit, and Xuniso P. Belat, which were presented during the testimony of former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta on Monday.
Under the Joint Circular governing the use and liquidation of confidential and intelligence funds, documentary evidence of payments related to confidential funds’ disbursement must be placed in a sealed envelope, kept confidential, and stored in the vault of the special disbursing officer.
The Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO) may inspect the vault containing the classified information when necessary.
‘Why did the Joint Circular require these to be placed in a sealed envelope, marked confidential, and kept in a vault?’ Chua said.
Chua then questioned whether genuine identifying records for the individuals supposedly represented by the names in the ARs were maintained elsewhere.
He said that without such records, confidentiality could become a barrier to accountability rather than a controlled measure intended to protect the identities of legitimate confidential informants.
The defense has yet to present its evidence and address whether the names appearing in the ARs were indeed aliases